Graduation
I graduated last week. That’s pretty weird. Since doing so, I’ve spent my days at home in complete idleness. I spend my days like I spent my summers in high school: watching movies and videos online, playing video games and going to the gym occasionally. The big difference is that there’s no sure end to it. I won’t be going anywhere in the fall for classes, I don’t know what city I’ll be in. I really don’t know anything about what my future will be like.
It still hasn’t hit me that I won’t move back into my apartment on campus in August. The routine of working each summer only to return to my friends and classes each year has become engrained in my mind. Each of my past years was completely different but the pattern remained the same.
When I think back about my last fouryears of college, I struggle to say that I loved Georgia Tech. I can’t stop thinking about the stress culture that ruined the mental health of many of my friends and led them to unhealthy coping mechanisms. I can’t stop thinking about hearing students one-up each other about how little sleep they had gotten the night before or the amount of hours they had studied. I can’t stop thinking how the shared experience of being a Georgia Tech student was associated with suffering, crying, and constant stress. Every school year, my chances to leave campus always felt like respites, like the air was a little lighter off-campus.
Despite all of that, I’ll miss being so close to my friends and all of my regular places like Taqueria del Sol and the Taco Bell where the girl with the glasses would always give me extra food. I enjoyed my college experience in the things that I learned, the opportunities I gained and the people I met. I’m sad to leave my friends and community, but I’m excited to try and find healthier surroundings.
That dichotomy defines everything right now. I’m sad about the change, but excited about the future, as murky as it is.
Drops of the Week
where I *drop* recommendations of cool things this week
Article
“The Men Who Have Mostly Female Friends” by Lauren Larson- my mom likes to point out that the only people who I interact with on Instagram and Facebook are girls. This article gives me validation that I’m not so weird for mainly having female friends.
Film
Karz- classic Bollywood film featuring some of the greatest songs of all time and an incredibly interesting story
Album
Karz - some of the greatest songs of all time
Thanks so much for reading! If you have any comments/concerns or fan/hate mail for me, you know how to reach me (links below).
Love,
Nikhil